Manager of the Month Oct 02, Nov 02, Jan 04, Feb 04, May 04

No particular preference, so I shall have to say Birmingham, I suppose - particularly after 'Enckelgate' two seasons ago and the fact that we have not beaten them since they entered the Premiership.

Juventus - their pink away strip is beautiful, I'd love to wear it.

Pavel Nedved - his form for Juventus throughout 02/03 and in the early stages of 03/04 produced a passage of the most consistently inspired performances I've ever seen from a footballer.

I can't recall ever celebrating a goal quite like I celebrated Beckham's free-kick against Greece.

Undoubtedly the best goal celebration I've ever seen came from Antonio Cassano. His celebrations are always 'wacky' and spontaneous, but his crowning moment was following a goal against Juventus. He slowly approached the corner flag as though stalking it, before lashing out with a kick as hard and violent as to make Roy Keane look dainty enough to join the Women's Auxiliary Balloon Corps. The flag leapt out of the ground, snapped in two and Cassano was booked, as if anybody cared.

Norwich City 4 - 5 Southampton. The result was the only disappointment in this all-action, low quality goal fest.

I'm not sure about specific kits in history, but I've always liked the colour combination of the Portuguese national strip.

The victory against Argentina at the World Cup was great for all manner of reasons, too plentiful and essentially obvious for me to bother mentioning.

It probably wasn't the most decisive match of the tournament for us, but I've never felt so low after a match as I did following the defeat to France at Euro 2004. To have about 50 minutes of good work following Lampard's goal completely undone in stoppage time was very difficult to take. Furthermore, the fact that it wasn't as though France were peppering our goal throughout the second half meant that there was no sense of inevitability about it.

Lyng FC - that's all. I was once 'tapped up' by Honingham but I turned the move down. We had disagreements because it was made fairly clear to me that I would not be played as a deep-lying creative midfielder, from where I am most dangerous.

'I'm Alan Partridge' - even by Coogan's high standards it's a masterpiece. 'The Office' pales in comparison.

'The Witchfinder General' - almost like a local history documentary, spiced up with a bit of violence and some intercourse.

John H. Arnold - 'History: A Very Short Introduction'. It analyses the very nature of the greatest subject ever taught.

1) 'Bryter Layter' - Nick Drake
2) 'The Queen is Dead' - The Smiths
3) 'The Boy With the Arab Strap' - Belle & Sebastian
4) 'Five Leaves Left' - Nick Drake
5) 'Life's Rich Pageant' - R.E.M.
6) 'Songs of Leonard Cohen' - Leonard Cohen
7) 'Pink Moon' - Nick Drake
8) 'Franz Ferdinand' - Franz Ferdinand
9) 'Turn on the Bright Lights' - Interpol
10) 'The Soft Bulletin' - The Flaming Lips

'Your New Favourite Band' by The Hives. A lot of my ill-feeling towards them is probably due to the immense excitement I felt when initially hearing about them, but still, failing a few tracks, I found it very dull and wanted to pelt the singer with gobstoppers. They really are crap.

Underrated - I've never really felt that 'Turn on the Bright Lights' by Interpol has received the appreciation that it deserves.

Reading Festival 2001. It shall never be topped; entering the arena for the first time and seeing the various stages was fantastic. Furthermore, I like to think that there I saw The Strokes at the absolute peak of the hype, just three days before their debut album was released.

a) Spanish Football - it's terribly overrated in our media, primarily due to the success of Real Madrid in the UCL, and the fact that La Liga sides traditionally do well against British teams. It's strong technically, but given that so few players appear capable of tackling that only seems fair - no wonder someone like Davids stood out so much. Only one Spanish team has ever won the CL.

b) Modern one-hit wonders - they're all crappy dance tracks, nothing of '74-75' or 'mmm mmm mmm mmm' quality.

c) American comedy shows - there are a few exceptions, but by and large, they're not very funny. On the whole, American comedy is a good 20 years behind that of Britain, sophistication-wise.

d) Text message abbreviations - they're acceptable applied in small doses but some people use them to the point at which the messages can become incomprehensible.

e) Urinals - they're revolting! I'd rather 'pass water' on the road.

f) Seafood - with the widespread availability of cod liver oil tablets to cover the health issue, I can't believe people still eat it. It is the taste of Satan's bottom.

Football journalist. Not writing about football matches, but the business side of the game. I've never hidden my interest in the workings of the transfer market. One can, in fact, see it in the amount of changes I make during the average FD season.

I'm not entirely sure, I've never really explored my political side. I'd always say I'm a liberal though, if only to display a degree of tolerance.

Commission the construction of a computer powerful enough to run Championship Manager 03/04 at a reasonable pace.

'Never ascribe to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence.'
Napoleon Bonaparte